It's always a special moment when a festival lineup you've been anticipating is finally announced, yet so often it's tinged when your see it and have to ask: Wait, where are all the women? We've known that live music events don't book enough women for some time now, so why hasn't the gender gap shifted more?

As Tshepo Mokoena recently highlighted in her Noiseyop-ed, music streaming platforms are partly at fault as not only do their popular playlists favor male artists, research shows their algorithms do as well, consequently promoting a continued gender imbalance. As men continue to be more heavily promoted to listeners and receive more streams, many festivals, especially those run by the streaming companies, will continue to keep booking more men. Algorithms are not going to help the music industry have better gender equality until the humans lead the way.

Damn guys come onnnnnn. Where the women at. This was one of my favorite festivals I’ve ever played and it’s a shame there’s not more females on the bill. With the exception of (the amazing) Sza, the first like 20 acts on the bill are men. It’s 2018, do better!!! https://t.co/8tmeac8mVu

As streaming continues to shift music consumption, Spotify continues to play a major role in how music listeners, especially younger ones (55% users are between ages 18-34), discover new music and artists. Mokoena highlights the sparsity of women on some of Spotify's most popular playlists, including RapCaviar, often seen as a list of who's hot in hip-hop in the U.S., where only 10.8 percent of artists featured from May 2016 to December 2017 were female. While female rappers may historically be a minority, Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott have paved the way for next generation of rappers like Nicki Minaj and Cardi B to set new records and break the mold for what a rapper looks and sounds like. There are, of course, plenty of other talented female rapperscurrently making waves, like Northern California's Saweetie and London's Stefflon Don, yet looking at playlists like RapCaviar, you wouldn't know that. At the time this was written Cardi B and Minaj are the only females on the playlist.

As Mokoena points out, Spotify's algorithms may partially be to blame for the continued unequal representation of female artists in music, yet so are people. She points to Liz Pelly's experiment for Baffler, where she set up a test Spotify account and listened only to popular playlists, including RapCaviar and others (like Today's Top Hits and New Music Friday, which also featured more male artists) to see what music the service would suggest for her, which were more male-heavy playlists. As Spotify explained, they choose music experts and cultural ambassadors to curate many of their playlists. As people continue to making gender-skewed playlists, algorithms will follow their lead. In Mokoena's words; "That's not just a coincidence – algorithms reflect the culture in which they're developed."

Inevitably, Spotify charts and data from other steaming services and social networks play into which artists get booked at festivals, which are slowly starting to address gender inequality. Earlier this year 100 music festivals and conferences globally pledged to fight the gender gap by creating a 50/50 gender balance on their lineups by 2022withthe UK-based Keychange initiative. This is a step in the right direction, especially given Pitchfork's 2017 findings that showed that of 23 music festival lineups in 2017, including their own Pitchfork Music Festival, only 14 percent of acts booked were female.

At this year's CoachellaBeyoncé made history as the first ever black female to headline the popular festival since its inception 19 years ago, a baffling fact. Queen Bey was actually slated to headline in 2017, yet dropped out due to her pregnancy and was replaced by Lady Gaga, who was the first solo female headliner at the event in 10 years, since Bjork in 2007. According to Paper, the festival increased its female artist presence from 25 percent of performers in 2017 to 33 in 2018, the year many dubbed as "Beychella."

Mokoena looks at the lineups for two upcoming music festivals she deems important to UK music and compares them: Spotify's Who We Be Live in London, a grime and rap focused event inspired by the streaming service's playlist of the same name that serves as somewhat of a UK version of RapCaviar and not surprisingly has a male-heavy lineup, and Annie Mac's AMP Lost & Found in Malta, an electronic music focused event whose lineup features a more impressive offering of female artists.

Mac is an important figure in dance music being an influential DJ who has hosted popular BBC Radio 1 shows since 2004 that have helped put many younger DJs and producers on the map. She is personally making sure that her festival reflects the true diversity of the electronic genre. Mac clearly understands her role as an influential women in dance music and took it seriously when booking talent for the festival.

"There's so much brilliant female talent in electronic music at the moment that it's a no-brainer to be able to make as much of an equal gender split as possible with a dance music festival, she told Noisey. "I'm so excited to see all these brilliant new girls that we've booked play, like CC:DISCO!, DEBONAIR, Emerald and then obviously the more established DJs like Shanti Celeste and SAOIRSE up to Honey Dijon and Peggy Gou. It's a joy to be able to put it all that talent in one place."

Electronic music is another heavily male-dominated genre, so it is important to have women like her who are aware of the challenges of being a female in the industry and able to use their influence to shine a light on other talented women in their field and expose more music fans to a more diverse artist offering. Lost and Found's 2019 lineup, which includes Mac and another female DJ, The Black Madonna, as a headliner is not a 50/50 gender split, but is one of the more impressive, diverse offerings for any electronic music festivals of late and is a big step in the right direction

All in all, if how we consume music is still being shaped by underlying cultural biases and what other people are listening to via streaming algorithms, then we as human beings have to create an environment that advocates for women in music and celebrates and promotes them as artists, just as we have always done for men.

Deadmau5 will be making his first return to the fest since 2010, bringing his new "Cube 3.0" stage setup, and Guetta will be back for his first time since the 2012 event. Australian singer/songwriter DJ/producer extraordinaire Alison Wonderland, plus GRAMMY-nominated rave icons Steve Aoki, Armin van Buuren will also bring fire to the three-day event.

Unlike a typical music festival lineup, EDC lists theirs alphabetically by day, giving way to a treasure hunt to the many gems across the lines of names. Underground techno queens Charlotte De Witte, ANNA and Amelie Lens will all perform at the event, which has eight(!) stages, along with fellow techno heavy-hitter Adam Beyer.

Several artists will be hopping on the decks together, including Topping, who will be doing a B2B set (a.k.a. back-to-back, or collab set, for those not up on the rave lingo) with fellow British DJ Eats Everything. U.K. dubstep stalwarts Skream and Rusko are on the lineup for an "old skool dubstep set," which, as Your EDM put it, is "absolutely unheard of."

But wait, who are the headliners? Pasquale Rotella, CEO and co-founder of Insomniac, believes that headliners are everyone that attends the festival, spreads the love and makes all the magic possible.

"Being a Headliner means looking at the world a little differently, and seeing beauty and inspiration everywhere you look. It’s about lifting up the people around you and making time for your family and friends. This is a journey we all take together—always connected and committed to one another," Rotella said in a statement on Insomniac's website.

If you want to get your dance on and check out the carnival rides, interactive art and plenty of lights and lasers with EDC in Vegas, you're in luck; tickets are still available. Check out EDC's websitefor more info.

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The organizers for what they are calling a "'pop-up' micro-festival" include former heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson, who is offering the site of future home to Tyson Ranch Resort.

Tyson recently broke ground on the property last month, which a press release for the festival says will be a "420-acre entertainment complex, luxury glamping resort and cannabis research and design facility." The Blast reports that Tyson has been a longtime believer in the healing benefits of cannabis and "says taking care of men and women who have served in the armed forces is a top priority" on the ranch.

Organizers also say that the event will be the first music festival to celebrate California's new 2019 marijuana legislation.

"Kind Music Festival is a revolution—leading the way for a new generation of health and wellness focused cannabis consumers, 'The Kind Generation,'" says a KIND festival producer. "The word 'kind' is defined as 'a group of people or things having similar characteristics' as well as 'of a good or benevolent nature or disposition…Kind Music Festival challenges conventional thinking while being mainstream."

Jul 7, 2018 – 2:46 pm

Miguel On 'War & Leisure' & Essence Fest

A portion of ticket sales will benefit Standing United, a non-profit organization aimed at helping individuals recover from drug addiction and homelessness to "reintegrate into society and become upstanding citizens in their communities." Tyson himself, along with other Kind Festival employees, the press release reports, have struggled with addiction.

Two Woodstock 50th Anniversary Events Planned For Aug. 2019

As the golden birthday of the historic music festival approaches, available rooms in Sullivan County for Aug. 15–18 are already in limited supply, even before the lineups or major details for either event have been announced

Judging by the rapid rate hotels and Airbnbs are been being booked in Sullivan County, the site of the iconic ’69 Woodstock Music And Arts Fair, music fans from around the world are ready and excited to celebrate the historic fest's 50th birthday.

Two music festivals will take place on the anniversary weekend, one unofficial at the Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, and an official 50th celebration at a to-be-announced venue, hosted by organizers of the original event.

If you want to take part in the magic of the Woodstock 50th anniversary events and stay in Sullivan County during the long weekend of Aug. 15–18, you should think about booking a room soon. The Times-Herald Record Of Middletown reports that hotels, Airbnbs and everything in between have been booking up quickly, even before official news of an anniversary event had been revealed last month.

The newspaper also shared that many places to stay near the Bethel Woods Center—the venue which now lives at the site of the original event—are already completely booked with already-lengthy waiting lists. One hotel, which is still under construction and set to open this summer, is already fully booked with a waitlist, and shared that their first guest inquiry came in two years ago.

"There's a lot of interest on the domestic front and the international front, whether you were there in 1969, or just want to be here today," said Sullivan County Visitors Association CEO Roberta Byron Lockwood.

The organizers of the Bethel Woods Festival describe their three-day event as a "pan-generational music, culture, and community event" with "live performances from prominent and emerging artists spanning multiple genres and decades, and TED-style talks from leading futurists and retro-tech experts." Attendees will get to visit the venue's year-round Woodstock-centric museum which will feature special new 2019 exhibit called We Are Golden: Reflections On The 50th Anniversary Of The Woodstock Festival And Aspirations For An Aquarian Future.

"50 years ago, people gathered peacefully on our site inspired to change the world through music," said Darlene Fedun, Bethel Woods Center CEO. "As the stewards of this historic site, we remain committed to preserving this rich history and spirit, and to educating and inspiring new generations to contribute positively to the world through music, culture, and community."

Lang, who was one of the main promoters for Woodstock '69 and has been hinting at an official 50th anniversary event for some time, confirmed minimal details with the Poughkeepsie Journal, who on Dec. 19 wrote that Lang had "definite plans" for an anniversary concert not held at the original location.

On Dec. 30, Woodstock Ventures, which runs the official Woodstock website and works with Lang, shared a statement from the co-founder:

"While the original site in Bethel remains close to our hearts, it no longer has the capacity to hold a real Woodstock Festival. I'm delighted that Bethel Woods is doing events in the coming year to celebrate what we brought to life in 1969," wrote Lang.

However you choose to celebrate Woodstock's 50th anniversary, Sullivan County is ready to welcome you this summer with peace and love vibes, complete with 36 fiberglass dove statues painted by local artists in '60s-inspired colors.

Just make sure to book a place to stay sooner rather than later, unless you want to relive the memories of many would-have-been-Woodstock-goers stuck on Route 17B, aka Woodstock Way.

Martin Garrix, G-Eazy, Machine Gun Kelly & More To Play Snowfest 2019

Every winter, Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah draws tens of thousands of industry professionals and film buffs alike to the snowy mountain town. Meanwhile, over on Main Street, the Park City Live music venue hosts Snowfest, and this year’s lineup doesn't disappoint, with three nights of DJs ready to get you dancing: GRAMMY winner Diplo, GRAMMY nominee Kaskade and Martin Garrix, and performances by rappers G-Eazy and Machine Gun Kelly.

Diplo will kick -off the fun as Sundance opens on Jan. 24, with G-Eazy performing the next night, followed by Kelly on Jan. 28. Garrix will perform on Feb. 1, for what the venue says is the Dutch DJ/producer's "first-ever Utah appearance." Finally, Utah's own Kaskade closes the fest on Feb. 2.

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